V2 and the evolution of Germanic clause structure:
syntax, phonology and information structure

2012. október 18. 11:00

The goal of this paper is to provide a novel analysis of Verb-Second
(V2) in Germanic, both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective.
The take-home message is twofold: (1) equating V2 exclusively with
V-to-C is a misnomer and (2) the canonical instances of “independent”
verb movement to T (or alternatively to a position in an extended CP
structure) in languages like Icelandic actually involve V2. Thus, V2
is deconstructed as an adjacency constraint at the syntax-phonology
interface which requires the finite verb in the highest functional
head position (C or T) to occur immediately after a clause-initial
phrase, disallowing any intermediate elements. In the earliest
Germanic the V2 constraint emerged in certain well-defined main clause
types with a particular information structure, and was subsequently
extended to other clause types, including embedded clauses in North
Germanic (and West Germanic Yiddish). Since the V2 constraint is
“violable”, it can of course be lost eventually; typically this
happens first in embedded clauses (Mainland Scandinavian, Faroese) and
then in specific types of main clauses (wh-questions in Norwegian
dialects).